Rainbow Raider

As a child, Roy G. Bivolo always dreamed of a career as an artist, a lofty goal considering he was completely colorblind. He would often paint what he thought were beautiful pieces of art, only to be told that it was made up of clashing colors. His father, an optometrist and genius in optical technology, swore he would find a cure for his son's disorder. Due to failing health, he was unable to complete his product, but instead created a sophisticated pair of goggles that would allow Roy to create beams of solid rainbow-colored light. On his death-bed, his father presents him with this gift, and it was not long before Roy found a sinister use for it.

Turning to crime because the world did not appreciate his art, Roy, now the Rainbow Raider, went on a crime spree focused mostly on art galleries, saying that if he could not appreciate the great works of art in them (due to his disability), then no one else would. During this time he often clashes with the Flash, and sparks a rivalry that would last several years. Some years later he would fight Booster Gold as well. Rainbow Raider becomes the mind-addled slave of a crimelord in one of many alternate futures within the Armageddon 2001 storyline.[4] He is a central plot point in the first issue of the Underworld Unleashed storyline because even Neron, the demonic antagonist, considered him pathetic, indeed even calling him a "paramecium".[5]

Rainbow Raider once traded opponents with Batman villain Doctor Double X after meeting a motivational therapist named Professor Andrea Wye. Both of them are defeated by Batman and Flash.[6]

He later becomes a minor enemy of the Justice League, appearing briefly at a villains gathering [7] and later taking part in the riot in the super-hero prison of Belle Reve Penitentiary (he is quickly defeated by a single punch from Zauriel). During his time at Belle Reve, he was part of the Color Queens prison gang alongside Crazy Quilt, Doctor Light, Doctor Spectro, and Multi-Man.[8]

Roy is slain by the villainess Blacksmith when she impaled him with his latest work of art.[9] He is one of the many deceased characters temporarily reanimated as a zombie within the Black Lantern Corps.[10]

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Roy uses the alias of Chroma, rather than Rainbow Raider. During the Forever Evil storyline, Chroma was present in Central City when Gorilla Grodd invaded the city with his army of gorillas. He, Girder, and Tar Pit saw Pied Piper defeated by Gorilla Grodd. After Gorilla Grodd punches Girder enough to crumble, Chroma runs away with Tar Pit. Gorilla Grodd later kills Chroma to serve as a warning to the other villains that the Gem Cities are his. Upon Solovar being chained up, the heads of Chroma and the Mayor of Central City are placed around him.[11]

Chroma later appears somehow alive and intact. He and Tar Pit are robbing jewelry stores until they are stopped by Flash.[12]

Since Rainbow Raider's death, a team of color-themed supervillains have dubbed themselves the Rainbow Raiders in his honor.

After the death of the first Captain Boomerang, a funeral was held that every villain ever to face Flash attended. Among the large crowd was an eclectic group of metahumans calling themselves the "Rainbow Raiders", in honor of the late Flash villain. Their sentiments, expressed during the service, seemed to denote that the group was relatively new to the scene, and had little exposure, standing, or experience working together.

The Raiders were active during the Crime Syndicate of America's second invasion of Earth, encountering Johnny Quick and Power Ring (who were disguised as the Flash and Green Lantern) while attacking the Missoula County, Montana S.T.A.R. Labs facility. The battle goes badly for the two, but thanks to the help of nearby civilians, believing that their beloved heroes are in trouble, attack the Raiders and allow Power Ring and Johnny Quick to rally and subdue the group.[13]

The fate of the Rainbow Raiders was intended for the pages of Blackest Night, and was soon after released as a "deleted page" segment in Untold Tales of the Blackest Night. Believing that, with the dead attacking, it was best to be on the 'winning side', the Raiders committed mass suicide in order to join the Black Lantern Corps. However they remained dead, because they lacked any emotional ties sufficient to draw the attention of the black rings, which focused on resurrecting people who would inspire certain emotions in Earth's heroes and villains, such as Lex Luthor's various murder victims, or fallen villains and heroes like Maxwell Lord and Elongated Man.

• Roy G. Bivolo appears in The Flash, portrayed by Paul Anthony.[16] He is originally nicknamed Prism by Cisco Ramon, but Caitlin Snow suggests "Rainbow Raider". Even though Cisco dismisses it as lame and he called it first, other characters refer to him as Rainbow Raider including Bivolo himself. Rather than use goggles, Bivolo's metahuman power allows him to incite rage in people by looking directly into their eyes. His eyes glow red when he uses this power. In the episode "Flash vs. Arrow" (which is a crossover over with Arrow), Bivolo sends the Flash into a rage, but the Arrow is able to keep the Flash occupied long enough for Dr. Wells and Joe West to arrive and reverse the effect. Bivolo is later captured and imprisoned. In the episode "Rogue Air", Rainbow Raider escapes from prison when Captain Cold sabotages the attempt to move the prisoners from the particle accelerator with the goal of gaining their aid at some future date.
• Roy G. Bivolo is mentioned by Barry Allen in Supergirl. In the episode Worlds Finest, Barry, attempting to help Kara deal with the public's distrust of her after her exposure to Red Kryptonite, describes the time when he went against Bivolo unprepared and was affected by his powers and became uncontrollably angry and aggressive, resulting in the public not believing him as a hero. Barry eventually stated that the people will forgive her and accept her as a hero after some time has passed.

• Rainbow Raider appears in the film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.

• Rainbow Raider appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, as part of the Rainbow DLC pack.

• Rainbow Raider appears at the beginning of the second volume of the comic book tie-in of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. He teams up with Crazy Quilt and Doctor Spectro to defeat Batman and Blue Beetle.[17]
• Rainbow Raider appears in The Flash tie-in novel, The Haunting of Barry Allen. Bivolo repeated tried to "whammy" his jailer, Cisco Ramon, leading to Cisco developing some mirrored glasses which reflected Bivolo's whammy back to himself. Bivolo then began confessing his deepest thoughts to Cisco, also explaining that he preferred the name "Rainbow Raider". After Cisco showed the metas Tina Fey films and TV shows, Bivolo tried to act out Saturday Night Live sketches with him, which Cisco quickly grew tired of.